I
» far re n tonllam.Library X
117 S.Maln. St.
larrenton, N.C. 2758
(Sty t lamn itarfc
Volume 87 25c Per Copy Warrenton, County Of Warren, North Carolina Wednesday, August 15, 1984 Number 33
These cross ties stacked beside the Seaboard
Systems Railroad's tracks at Macon mark the end
of an era. All of its track between Nor Una and
Roanoke Rapids, with the exception of a track con
necting the 3.2-mile Warrenton Railroad track with
Norlina, was officially abandoned by the railroad in
May and cross ties and track are currently being
taken up. Davy Formyduval, vice president of
Aberdeen and Briar Patch Railroad, and son of
WUlard Formyduval, owner of Warrenton Railroad,
said this week that Warrenton Railroad will con
tinue to serve its customers in this area.
(Staff Photo)
Lightning Draws Blame For Fires
As Homes Burned; Fireman Hurt
Fire caused by light
ning has destroyed two
Warren County homes
in the past five days and
a volunteer fireman suf
fered minor injuries
fighting one of the
blazes, according to
Walter Gardner, cap
tain of the Warrenton
Rural Volunteer Fire
Department.
Last Thursday, the
residence of Ozzie
Wilson located between
Inez and Grove Hill was
completely destroyed by
fire along with its con
tents.
The Inez and Areola
fire departments
responded to the 10:15 p.
m. blaze, assisted by
Warrenton Rural Fire
Department.
Tim Proctor, a
Warrenton Rural
fireman, sutterea a
broken thumb when a
brick veneered wall of
the one-and-one-half
story home collapsed. A
ladder belonging to the
Inez Department was
crushed when the wall
fell.
About 30 firemen
responded to the call
and stayed on the scene
for more than three
hours.
No one was at home
when the fire broke out,
Gardner said.
On Monday, the
residence of Beech Fogg
on Rt. 2, in Norlina near
the Ax tell community
was "virtually destroy
ed," according to Gard
ner, in a blaze that was
reported at 10:59 p. m.
Warrenton Rural, Afton
Elberon, Cokesbury,
Littleton Man Given
Medical Scholarship
Burton D. Price, 26, a
native of Littleton, is
one of 17 recipients of
the University of North
Carolina Board of
Governors' Medical
Scholarships for 1984-85,
according to an an
nouncement made
recently by UNC
President William
Friday.
Price, who received
an undergraduate
degree from UNC
Chapel Hill and a
master's degree from N.
C. Central University in
Durham, will attend
East Carolina School of
Medicine.
The son of Mr. and
Mrs. Baldy 0. Price of
Littleton, Price attend
ed Northwest High
School.
The scholarship
provides full payment of
tuition and mandatory
fees, plus an annual
stipend of $4,000.
The scholarships were
authorized by the
General Assembly in
1974 as a means of
providing Increased
medical education op
portunities for finan
cially disadvantaged
students.
and Soul uty tire de
partments responded.
Much of the contents
of the home were also
destroyed.
The home was thought
to be a part of the Sam
Allen estate, Gardner
said.
About 20 firemen
responded to the fire
and stayed on the scene
about three hours.
Warrenton Rural
firemen returned to the
scene at 7 a. m. Tuesday
to extinguish a smolder
ing mattress.
Prices Are Good
By MARY C. HARRIS
Staff Writer
Prices continued high
Tuesday on the second
week of sales for the
Warrenton Tobacco
Market, according to
Mrs. Alice Marie Rob
ertson, sales supervisor.
Reports from the local
market's four ware
houses, Currin's, High
Dollar, Centre and
Farmers, gave reason
for optimism to area
tobacco growers.
The Warrenton
market, which is a part
of the Middle Belt,
posted records from
Tuesday's sales showing
an average price of
$159.37 per hundred on
the 300,874 pounds sold.
Gross sales amounted to
$479,187, Mrs. Robertson
stated.
These statistics re
flected a continuation of
the high note on which
the market opened last
Thursday. The Warren
ton market recorded the
highest opening day
average price of any
market in the Warren
Vance-GranviUe area.
Opening day ended
locally with an average
price of $155.57 per hun
dred, more than $3.50
above the average for
Henderson's opening
and almost $7 more than
the opening day average
for Oxford.
Gross sales on
opening day totalled
$380,328 for the 244,470
pounds sold in the
Warrenton warehouses.
The volume of tobacco
on sale, as well as the
price, is expected to in
crease as the season
continues.
Mrs. Robertson indi
cated that one encourag
ing factor is that so little
of the crop is going to
the Fedeal Stabilization
Cooperative Program.
On opening day in
Warrenton, only three
percent of the leaf on
sale went to
Stabilization. This is an
indication that the
tobacco companies want
to buy most of the
tobacco on the ware
house floors. With the
second week of sales,
Stabilization continued
to receive only a small
portion, seven percent,
of the tobacco for sale.
Pupils To Report Sept. 4
School Opening Delay
Approved By Board
The Warren County
Board of Education
Monday night ordered
that the start of school
be1 delayed until after
Labor Day in order that
county farmers could
use school labor in help
ing harvest this years
tobacco crop.
The board acted after
a four-man delegation,
led by Luther Perkin
son, appeared to request
a delay in the opening of
school. All nine Warren
County schools were
scheduled to open
August 21. Teachers had
been expected to report
today.
Supt. Mike Williams
told board members
that notification of the
delay could be passed on
to teachers expected to
report today without
undue difficulty. After
calling for schools to
open on Tuesday, Sept.
4, the board voted to
require teachers to
report for duty on
Thursday, Aug. 23.
The delegation of
tobacco farmers was
composed of Perkinson,
Norvell Bolton, William
Ellington and Bob Ride
out.
Perkinson told board
members that because
of an "extremely late"
tobacco crop, farmers
would be "hurt awfully"
if schools opened&s
originally scheduled
Perkinson said the
majority of the crop
would come in during
the next two weeks and
that "kids willing to
work should have the
chance to ^ork."
Board members and
farmers agreed that it is
unfair to penalize stu
dents who worked in
tobacco instead of at
tending school. Williams
said that efforts are
made to help absent stu
dents stay abreast of
their classwork, but that
students nonetheless
were put at a disad
vantage if they missed
several days of school.
Ellington told board
members that should
the opening of school not
be postponed, "it will
force us to bring in labor
we don't want. In an ob
vious reference to the
use of migrant labor,
Ellington said he would
much prefer to work
people living on local
farms.
Supt. Williams told
the delegation that the
calendar was not "set in
concrete" and that it
could be changed. He
said that during the past
six years the schools
have opened before
Labor Day and that
during that time no
delegation had asked for
a delay.
Board members Yar
borough Williams, who
abstained when the vote
on delay was taken, said
that the board should
"take a look at the whole
picture" before calling
Deer Pays Visit
To Local Store
History has a way of repeating itself, at least
insofar as deer sightings on Warrenton's Main
Street are concerned.
Many residents of the town recall the time
more than two decades ago when a deer jum
ped through the plate glass window of Ben
ton's Furniture Company, rammed his head
through a petition, left the store, ran three
blocks along Main Street, jumped over a
moving taxi cab and disappeared.
Now a deer has come back to the same area.
This time the deer appeared across Main
Street, at Warrenton Supply Company.
Owner Vernon Whitmore said a doe came in
the back gate which opens onto Front Street,
entered the store, fell a couple of times, jum
ped over the counter and struck the front plate
glass window before retracing her steps and
disappearing out the back gate.
The latest episode, which occurred about 9
a. m. on August 2, was witnessed by Whitmore
and Jack Groves of Warrenton.
Whitmore said he did not stop to take a pic
ture of the deer. The owner hurriedly left his
store by the front door and reported that it
sounded as if the store were falling apart.
for a postponement.
Members voting for the
delay in opening were
Chairman Henry Pitch
ford, Mrs. Kathy
Wilson, Henry Bobbitt
and Leigh Traylor.
Rape Charge
Is Brought
Twenty - five - year -
old Larry Donnell
Alston of Warrenton has
been released from the
Warren County jail un
der $6,000 bond, charged
with the second-degree
rape of a 19-year-old
Warrenton woman.
On Tuesday evening,
August 7, Alston
allegedly gave a ride to
a local woman, appar
ently an acquaintance,
who was walking on
Main Street in Warren
ton. According to re
ports from the Warren
County Sheriff's Depart
ment, the woman,
whose name was not
released, stated that she
had accepted a ride
home with Alston.
He reportedly drove
the woman about two
miles east of Warrenton
to a secluded, wooded
area where he sexually
(Continued on page 2)
Meeting Of Commissioners
Divided Into Three Parts
Like all Gaul, the
regular monthly
meeting of the Warren
ton Town Board of Com
missioners on Monday
night was divided into
three parts—one-third
with the hearing of a
cemetery committee,
one-third with the
presentation of a com
puter salesman, and
one-third with the trans
action of regular board
matters.
The meeting was
called to order by Mayor
B. G. White at 8 p. m.
with Commissioners
Haithcock, Wood,
White, Miles and Clay
ton present.
Mayor White, as the
first order of business,
introduced a delegation
from the old town-owned
cemetery, a short
distance north of
Warrenton. Composing
this delegation were
Mrs. Charles Fitts, Mrs.
W. E. Exum and Free
man Harris, with Mrs.
Joint Meeting Set
A joint meeting of trustees of Warren
General Hospital, Warren County commis
sioners, and the Warren General Hospital
Task Force will be held tonight (Wednesday)
at 8 p. m. at the Warren County Courthouse to
discuss the future of the hospital.
All meetings of the two boards and the task
force, both individually and Jointly, have been
open to the public, but Mrs. Eva M. Clayton,
chairperson of the commissioners and the task
force, has urged public participation in this
meeting.
Exum serving as chief
spokesman.
The purpose of the
meeting was to discuss
the possibility of per
petual care for those
buried in the old
cemetery. The question
arose when a donor to
the cemetery commit
tee asked that her
donation be used for
perpetual care for her
plot.
The cemetery com
mittee is a volunteer
organization which for
several years has been
keeping up the cemetery
in a laudable manner
with funds from the
town and volunteer do
nations and volunteer
labor, as well as from
sale of cemetery lots.
Monday night the com
mittee wished to know if
they could raise the
price of a lot to provide
perpetual care for such
lots. Town Attorney
Charles Johnson ex
plained that the difficul
ty here was that no such
charge had been made
for previous lots sold,
and the charge of dis
crimination would arise.
Johnson suggested
three ways that the
problem may be han
dled:
1. By the town.
2. Appointment of
trustees.
S. A private corpora
, tlon.
The committee and
the commiMtoMfB, for
the time being, favored
the cemetery being
handled by the town. It
was decided that further
study is needed and at
the end of 40 minutes the
delegates departed.
For the next 40
minutes, Bruce Jackson
of Raleigh, computer
salesman for computer
soft-ware, illustrated
the operation of a com
puter, and made his
pitch for its sale. Should
the commissioners buy
this or any other compu
ter, it will be used
primarily for water
department records.
However, the commis
sioners told Jackson
they wanted time for
further study and com
parisons, and informed
him they would get in
touch with him later.
Forty more minutes had
passed.
Mayor White called
for committee reports.
Commissioner Gordon
Haithcock, chairman of
the Water Committee,
called upon Bill Neal,
superintendent of the
Water Department, who
explained a sewer per
mit which had been
drawn up for Owens
IUinois. Neal said that
the company was
anxious to obtain this
permit aa soon as
possible, and he was
satisfied that all items
had been covered, but
that he wanted it ap
proved by the town at
torney before be
delivered it to Owena
niinois It was tented
over to Atfenwv Qaria*